A Cook Co. jury has awarded a 19-year-old Chicago woman $2.6 million for unnecessary hip surgery when she was 13 years old, Corboy & Demetrio announced today. The teen was a budding basketball star who played on a nationally-ranked team when she complained of left knee pain and eventually underwent hip surgery by Defendant Dr. Prasad V. Gourineni who was employed by Pediatric & Young Adult Orthopaedics in Chicago.

The jury found that Dr. Gourineni was negligent when he failed to perform an MRI of the teen’s knee or hip before surgery, recommended hip surgery, and then damaged the teen’s hip joint during surgery in 2012. As a result, the teen suffered cartilage loss and had to have a left hip replacement.

“Not only did the unnecessary surgery derail this young teen’s basketball career, it derailed her life. She will likely need three more hip replacement surgeries,” Barry, Jr. said.

“With their verdict, jurors flatly rejected Dr. Gourineni’s defense that his diagnosis was correct, that surgery was indicated and was not the cause of the teen’s eventual cartilage loss and hip replacement.” Ditore added.

The jury returned its verdict after a five-day trial and a four-hour deliberation on March 12, 2019.